Post-game notebook: Armstrong takes blame

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As Tommy Armstrong took the post-game press conference podium following Nebraska's 35-14 victory over Purdue on Saturday, his face would have led you to believe the Huskers had just suffered a stunning upset defeat.

Even though the scoreboard showed NU had walked away with a 21-point win, Armstrong was as hard on himself as ever for his performance against the Boilermakers. The sophomore quarterback was far from the only Husker who made a mistake, but Armstrong put all of the blame for the offense's struggles squarely onto his shoulders.

"It all starts off with me," Armstrong said. "It sucks saying that. We got a win, and most people will just think of it as being a win for us. But I don't see it that way. Purdue is Purdue. But if we keep playing like this, we're going to lose one of our games. It's unacceptable. I'm embarrassed by just being able to come here and know that we won, and in all actuality with the way that we played we should have lost. That all starts off with me."

Armstrong ended the day just 8-of-21 passing for 118 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions. He did lead the team with 70 rushing yards and a score on 13 carries, but for the second week in a row he and centers Mark Pelini and Ryne Reeves had problems with their snap exchanges, resulting in two fumbles - one on a fourth-and-goal from one-yard line and another lost at NU's own 32.

Head coach Bo Pelini deflected some of the blame away from Armstrong after the game, saying Nebraska's receivers ran the wrong routes on both of his two interceptions, which were each intended for Jordan Westerkamp. Westerkamp also said he was the one at fault on the two picks, but as far as Armstrong was concerned, the quarterback was always the only one to blame.

"Like I said before, I'm the one with the ball in my hands when it comes to making those decisions on who to throw it to, who's open and who's not," Armstrong said. "Even if he ran the wrong wrong route, even if he ran the right route, if I see that I can't make a mistake by trying to force the ball here and there. That was on me."

Offensive coordinator Tim Beck came to Armstrong's defense as well, saying Nebraska's issues were a result of a multitude of errors throughout the game and not just the cause of one player's mistakes.

"It's not all on him," Beck said. "It looks worse to the average eye if guys are lining up wrong or running to the wrong spot. It looks like it's the quarterback. People say, 'Where's he throwing the ball?' Well, we expect a guy to be there and he's not there. I don't blame those on him."

Even so, Armstrong said he would spend the next two weeks during Nebraska's bye thinking about how close he came - in his eyes, at least - to costing the Huskers a very important victory heading into a pivotal November stretch.

"It sucks, you know?" Armstrong said. "It sucks game planning for a whole week and thinking that we're doing a great job and then go out there and we have moments here and there where we're unstoppable, and then we have moments where things are just going downhill. It starts off with me, like I said before.

"I had a time where I needed to step up and be a leader, but I feel like I failed. I know we won, but I feel like we failed. Our team got a win, but if we play like that agains a team like Wisconsin or Iowa, it's not going to be pretty."

- Robin Washut

Huskers optimistic on Abdullah's status

One of the biggest reasons for Nebraska's problems offensively on Saturday had to do with losing its Heisman Trophy candidate at running back for the game to injury midway through the first quarter.

On the Huskers' fumbled snap at the Purdue one-yard line, Ameer Abdullah picked up the loose ball and tried to salvage the drive by running it into the end zone. The senior was stopped short, and in the process suffered what Pelini called a "mild sprain and a little bit of a bruise" to his left knee.

Abdullah was able to return shortly after for one more carry, but had to leave the game and undergo an MRI to examine the extent of the injury.

While Pelini said Abdullah would have returned to the game if had been able to, the Huskers were optimistic that the All-Big Ten back would be OK moving forward.

"We were going to be cautious with him," Pelini said. "We were going to do everything we needed to do to make sure we were doing the right thing by Ameer. He already had an MRI and we feel good about where he is."

Abdullah finished with six carries for just one yard on the day, which will serve as a major blow to his final season stats and Heisman Trophy campaign.

But all of that takes a backseat to getting him back to 100 percent in time for NU's pivotal West Division game at Wisconsin in two weeks, Pelini said.

"I'm optimistic about that, yeah," Pelini said. "But I can't say for sure, and I don't know that."

- Robin Washut

Botched snaps confound NU offense

Even though Beck swears it's not an issue in practice, the botched center-quarterback exchanges have become a real problem for Nebraska during games. 

After blowing two snaps last week against Rutgers, the Huskers had another pair of miscues Saturday. The first came on a fourth-and-one situation on the goal line on NU's second drive and resulted in Abdullah's injury. The second came in the fourth quarter, ruining a drive that would have helped the Huskers run out the clock.

Although the Huskers managed to recover both fumbles, they bogged down or ended critical drives.

"I don't know," Beck said. "We don't have any problems in practice. You think it would be easy, right? I must be an awful coach that we can't get a quarterback-center exchange."

Missed snaps weren't really an issue for Nebraska until the last month. Mark Pelini and Armstrong combined for a trio of miscues against Michigan State, and now the Huskers have piled up four in the past two weeks. Armstrong took the blame for both of the snaps against Purdue. He said both hit him right in the hands, and that's all he can ask for.

"If it hit me in the hands, I've got to get it," he said. "I've just got to sit there and wait on the ball. It's on me. We had bad snaps here and there, but I've got to come out with the ball. We've just got to practice and got to make sure we do the right thing when it comes to snapping the ball and making sure we exchange it the right way. Like I said, I'm the guy that has to get the ball first before anybody else does."

Beck said getting that communication down is his No. 1 priority for the offense during the bye week.

"We're just not executing it," Beck said. "It only happens when we come out here and I don't know why. It's frustrating as a coach."

- Dan Hoppen

Goal line struggles bog down attack

Nebraska hasn't had much of an issue converting on the goal line this season, but it became a major issue against Purdue.

The Huskers couldn't punch the ball in from four yards out on their second drive, which ended with a fumbled snap on fourth and one. Then in the third quarter, it took NU five plays from the five-yard line to finally score on an Imani Cross run.

Missing Abdullah certainly didn't help. Despite his smaller stature, Abdullah has built himself into a very strong short-yardage runner, and he's a weapon in the passing game around the goal line as well.

But losing one player, even one as important as Abdullah, isn't an excuse to bog everything else down.

"That's an offensive lineman's worst nightmare, when you go three and out on the goal line," offensive guard Mike Moudy said. "Come on. You're a yard away and you can't get in. We just needed to tighten down blocks.

"I think for the most part communication was good down there. It comes down to coming off the ball and finishing our blocks."

When NU fumbled the snap on the second drive, it came with Armstrong in the pistol, leaving many wondering why Beck didn't put his quarterback under center and call for a sneak.

But Beck tried that on the next goal-line opportunity and Armstrong was stonewalled for no gain.

"We tried that and got stuffed," Beck said. "That didn't work. We ran sneak, we ran zone, we ran power. We tried a bunch of different things. We just didn't get good movement. They were kicking our butt down there. It was a collective offensive ugliness."

- Dan Hoppen

Quick hits

***On the unsportsmanlike conduct penalty he was flagged for in the fourth quarter, Pelini said he "was confused, to be honest with you" about the situation and that he didn't get any explanation for why he was flagged. Pelini wouldn't go into detail as to what started the situation.


"That's between me and the league office," Pelini said. "I'll be talking to somebody here as quickly as I possibly can."

***Pelini said there were some real positives on special teams and that NU played "pretty well across the board" defensively.

***Pelini said Nebraska ran the same call on both of the two punt blocks in the game. He said they thought they could attack Purdue's protection going into the game, and it paid off.

***Westerkamp took the blame for both of Armstrong's interceptions. 

"It was a little bit of miscommunication, but those of the were my fault," he said. "I should have came under the guy and I went over the top."

***Defensive tackle Vincent Valentine said his elbow is at about 70-75 percent healthy right now. 

***Saturday's win marks Nebraska's first 8-1 start since 2011 and just the second for Nebraska since 2001. The Huskers have a 4-1 Big Ten record through five league games for the third straight year and the fourth time in five seasons.

***Nebraska blocked two punts in a game since it did it against Iowa State on Oct. 25, 2003. Each of the blocked punts on Saturday led to touchdowns for Nebraska.


***The Huskers forced Purdue to three-and-out on each of its first four possessions. The Boilermakers converted just 2-of-16 third-downs, including 1-of-8 in the first half. Purdue was 1-of-6 on fourth down on the afternoon.



***Purdue completed just 18-of-46 passes in today's game, marking the fifth straight game opposing passers have completed less than 50 percent of their passes. Nebraska entered today's game third in the country in opponent passing percentage at 48.1 percent.

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